Jeff McDonald: Manu will play tonight

The Spurs guard, who missed the team’s first 12 games while recovering from September ankle surgery, will make his season debut tonight at Memphis, Popovich confirmed after this morning’s shootaround.

It was welcome news for Ginobili, who last week had targeted this very game for his return.

“It’s great to hear,” Ginobili said. “It’s been enough time.”

Late last week, Popovich seemed poised to deny Ginobili’s request for playing time in Memphis, saying Ginobili would play “when he’s ready.” Ginobili participated in several 5-on-5 scrimmages last week, apparently showing enough to convince Popovich he was, indeed, ready.

It isn’t clear how many minutes Ginobili might earn against the Grizzlies, buts it almost certainly won’t be many. Though he and Popovich haven’t discussed a plan, Ginobili said he will be surprised to play more than 10 or 12.

Every minute of game experience helps, he said.

“I’m going to be out of shape, a little slower,” said Ginobili. “But those are things you only get from playing. I feel like it works better for me getting 10 minutes of playing time than (spending) 20 minutes on a treadmill.”

One sign it could take Ginobili a while to fully regain his groove: He lost a post-practice game of H-O-R-S-E to Blake Ahearn this morning.